ANYWHERE. ANY WAY. ANY HOW. ANY TIME. BAR NONE. A foreclosure information sharing site committed to saving homes from foreclosure and facing any challenge that comes our way with Wisdom, Intelligence, Gratitude, and Grace. Nothing is too Good to be true. Nothing is too much to ask of the Power of God that can do anything. No weapon formed against you shall prosper! Onward!

Friday, February 7, 2014

Banks, Mortgage Companies Defrauded HUD, Veteran Whistleblower Says

A whistleblower with a track record of wresting large settlements from
banks is suing 22 companies for allegedly filing fraudulent mortgage
documents with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The lawsuit is a stark reminder
that banks still face massive litigation and potential settlements for
wrongdoing from the mortgage boom and financial crisis. On Wednesday,
JPMorgan Chase acknowledged that it violated the False Claims Act and agreed to pay $614 million to settle claims that it improperly approved Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs loans that did not meet underwriting standards.

HUD oversees the FHA, which reimburses servicers for losses and fees when government-guaranteed loans go into foreclosure.

Banks
can be held liable for treble damages under the False Claims Act if
they are found to have "falsely certified" that mortgages met all FHA
requirements. The act also gives whistleblowers the right to file suit
on behalf of the government.

“It’s been very difficult to uncover
how fraudulent documents were created and spread through the system,”
says Reuben Guttman, Szymoniak’s attorney at the firm of Grant &
Eisenhofer. “Lynn Szymoniak did the original analysis, looked at
documents and put the pieces together in a way that nobody else did.”

The new lawsuit
was filed in the U.S. District Court in South Carolina. Several of the
defendants, including Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo, said they are
reviewing the lawsuit and could not immediately comment.

In 2012,
Szymoniak helped the government recover $95 million from the top five
mortgage servicers, as part of the $25 billion national mortgage
settlement. She personally received $18 million for providing
information on the filing of false claims on FHA loans.

The suit
also seeks to recover damages and penalties on behalf of the federal
government, 16 states, the District of Columbia and the cities of
Chicago and New York for the financial harm incurred in the purchase of
private-label mortgage-backed securities that allegedly used fraudulent
documents in foreclosure filings since 2008.

As investors in
mortgage bonds, the government and others paid fees and expenses for
services such as reviewing all mortgage documents put into trusts that
were supposed to be performed by trustees. The federal government bought
mortgage-backed securities with missing or forged documents through
several avenues, including the Federal Reserve's direct purchases and
Maiden Lane vehicles, and the Treasury Department's purchases through
public-private partnership investment funds, the suit states.

The complaint does not specify damages but Szymoniak says she expects them to total around $10 billion.

The
fraudulent mortgage documents were created because the original loans
documents either were never delivered to the securitization trusts, or
they were lost or destroyed, the lawsuit states. Many of the documents
were created years after the trusts’ closing dates and showed the trusts
acquired the loans only after they were in default.

Servicers
“devised and operated a scheme to replace the missing documents,” the
lawsuit states, and to conceal the fact that the trusts and servicers
never actually held the mortgage notes and assignments, which are needed
to initiate a foreclosure.

Szymoniak was also instrumental in
uncovering fraud and forged documents at DocX, a now-defunct subsidiary
of Lender Processing Services. She worked with the Federal Bureau of
Investigations and U.S. Attorney's office in Jacksonville, Fla., that
ultimately led to the conviction of an LPS executive, the closure of
DocX, firm, and various settlements by LPS, which is now owned by Black Knight Financial Services.

USA,
Lynn E Szymoniak, California, State of, Delaware, State of, Florida,
State of, Hawaii, State of, Illinois, State of, Indiana, State of,
Massachusetts, State of, Minnesota, State of, Montana, State of, Nevada,
State of, New Hampshire, State of, New Jersey, State of, New Mexico,
State of, New York, State of, North Carolina, State of, Oklahoma, State
of, Rhode Island, State of, Virginia, State of, Columbia, District of,
Chicago, City of and New York, City of

Available Case Documents

Order
to Unseal Case directing the complaints be unsealed and served upon the
defendant by the relator and the relators serve this Order and the
Notice of The United States That It Is Not Intervening At This Time upon
the defendants only after service of the complaint. Signed by Honorable
Joseph F Anderson, Jr on 08/02/2013. (bshr, )

ORDER
denying 264 Motion to Bifurcate Motions to Dismiss, to Stay
Non-Jurisdictional Portions of the Motions, and for Leave to File an
Amended and Consolidated Complaint, denying the request to bifurcate the
motions to dismiss, denying the request to stay the non-jurisdictional
motions, and noting that the Relator is still within her 21-day grace
period to amend her complaint once as a matter of course under Rule
15(a)(1)(B). Signed by Honorable Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. on
01/22/2014.(bshr, )

Access additional case information on PACER

Use the links below to access additional information about this case on the US Court's PACER system. A subscription toPACERis required.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Washington Mutual Bank

Google+ Followers

There was an error in this gadget

Disclaimer

This Blog is not to be viewed as a source of competent legal advice, rather it is gathering place for people facing foreclosure who are sharing information in order to save our homes and communities. Administration shall not be liable to visitors for information posted or the actions of users on this Internet site.

DAVID vs. GOLIATH

Psalm 118:16 --- His power has brought us victory - his mighty power in battle!" -- Psalm 118:21 -- I praise you, Lord, because you heard me, because you have given me victory.

St. Michael the Archangel

"Defend us in the battle."

Words of Faith

Psalms 118:24: "This is the day of the Lord's victory; let us be happy, let us celebrate!"

1 Corinthians 15:57: "thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Nothing is too good to be true. Nothing is too much to ask of the Power of God that can do and accomplish anything. Therefore the highest and greatest Good is manifest for all homeowners in their quest to save their homes and win our legal issues. Good and only Good - a Good greater than anything we imagine possible -- is manifest in ways that are Right, Good, True and Wise. For this I am grateful. Amen.

I bless every home defender with victory over our enemies. I bless our adversaries to include JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, the FDIC, Washington Mutual Bank, ALAW, CRC, the title companies, trustees all of their entities, employees, executives, agents, affiliates and representatives of every kind. I bless every legal action, document, and communication. I bless every homeowner and home, every mortgage, Note, Deed of Trust, Notice of Default, Assignment, Notice of Sale, all litigation involving homeowners. I bless myself, my attorney, my home, my case. I bless everyone involved. I give thanks to God for the great victory manifesting for me and all home defenders. Amen.